P72: Quantitative reasoning in chemistry

The focus of this research is to improve the understanding of chemistry for all students by investigating and characterizing how students’ quantitative reasoning skills develop in their high school and college general chemistry coursework. This research continues the development of ChemQuery, an NSF-funded assessment system that uses a framework of the key ideas in the discipline and criterion-referenced analysis using item response theory (IRT) to map student progress. Potential items and qualitative analysis of students’ developing quantitative reasoning in chemistry will be presented.